Chapter 221: Talking with Pets
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Uncle Li was stunned for a second, then looked down at Little Celery in surprise. He thought to himself, a little girl came to buy pets on her own? Or did she come with her parents?
Little Celery was very shy, so she said timidly, “I just come to see the pets, I’m not buying…”
Her voice was particularly low, just liked the buzzing of mosquitoes, and Uncle Li had poor hearing, so he bent down and turned his ears closer to her.
“What did you say?”
Little Celery hid even further behind Zhang Zian, and her voice became even lower, “I said, I’m not buying pets today, I’m here to see them.”
From their first meeting to present day, Zhang Zian had always thought that Little Celery was a particularly lively and outgoing child, and he even worried that such a personality made her vulnerable. But right now, he could see that Little Celery was only talkative in front of acquaintances, and would remain alert and wary when meeting strangers.
If it wasn’t for the fact that Zhang Zian was running the pet shop left by his parents, and that Little Celery came to their pet shop to play oftentimes, Little Celery would still be wary of Zhang Zian.
Zhang Zian repeated her answer to Uncle Li, “Uncle Li, she said she came to see the pets, she’s not buying them.”
“Oh, I see…” Uncle Li stood up straight and kept murmuring to himself.
He admired Zhang Zian’s patience. As known to every businessman, window-shopping customers were the most annoying. If customers were comparing prices of different stores, then the shop owner might still have something to look forward to. But if customers had explicitly said that they were not buying anything, then most shop owners would stop being nice to them and would just kick them out. Imagine that! If a person kept asking how much a kabob cost but never bought anything at his store, he might lose his temper and yell at that person in only a few days.
Zhang Zian looked around the fruit store and found that the fruit shelves and showcases had been removed. Nothing was left inside the store, and only the sign of the previous fruit store was still hanging. He asked Uncle Li, “Have you moved in already?”
“Yes, we just moved in today! The decoration workers will come over later and help me tidy up. And we will be opening for business two days after,” said Uncle Li with great anticipation and satisfaction.
“Where is Aunt Li?”
Uncle Li randomly pointed at a direction in the store, “She’s inside sweeping the floor and cleaning the windows. I told her that could wait until after the decorations are done, but she just won’t listen to me.”
Zhang Zian nodded but did not say anything. He decided that on the day Uncle Li and Aunt Li’s store was officially open for business, he would give them some money as a gift, hoping it would bring them good luck.
“You can give this to me, I will bring it back to you later.” He took the foam insulated box from Uncle Li.
“You don’t have to…” Uncle Li intended to decline his offer. But Zhang Zian took the box anyway.
Zhang Zian put the foam insulated box under his armpit. Little Celery wanted to help him, but he gently declined. He said to Uncle Li, “You must be very busy preparing for the grand opening, so from now on, I will come by to take the box by myself. See you later!”
Walking behind Zhang Zian, Little Celery kept looking back at the store from time to time, and after a while, she asked, “Brother store manager, who is that grandpa?”
“You have not met him before? You only have breakfast at home?” Zhang Zian walked a regular pace and asked casually.
“Yes, my mom makes breakfast for me.”
“No wonder. How I envy you, Little Celery; you have a family to prepare meals for you. That grandpa and his wife run a breakfast stand, and they sell barbecue at nights.” He patted the foam insulated box, “Inside are the barbecue skewers I ordered from him for my picky cats. They have bought that fruit store, and they are going to turn it into a small restaurant.”
Soon, he and Little Celery arrived at his pet shop. He gave the box and the zip-loc bags to Little Celery, and fished out the keys from his pocket to open the shutter door.
She crash closed the shutter door.
“Wow!” Little Celery was shocked, “Brother store manager, what happened to your shop??”
She found that lots of things of the old pet shop were gone, including the glass door and many cats and dogs.
Zhang Zian explained, “Oh, nothing. I’m going to redecorate it, so I have sent the cats and dogs away to other places temporarily. But your hamster and Lop-Ear rabbit are still here.”
Little Celery rested assured. “Oh, I see. I know how decorating is. When my aunt had her house decorated, the whole family had to rent a house outside.”
“Uh-huh. When the re-decoration is done, the shop will look nicer, and will attract more customers, thus the pets will live more comfortably.” Zhang Zian patiently explained to her.
He took the foam insulated box from her. “I’m going to feed the cats, and you can go whisper with your little hamster and Lop-Ear rabbit now.”
“How do you know about my whispering with them?” She bashfully covered her face with her hands.
“Don’t worry, I did not eavesdrop on your conversations. My cats told me that you were whispering.” He can see from her nervous look that the things she confided with the little hamster and Lop-Ear rabbit were unknown to her parents.
He opened the lid of the box, and put the skewers into the food bowls of Fina and Old Time Tea, then went to fetch a new bowl for Cat from the Book.
“Why is the meat cooked? I told you I want fresh meat!” Snowy Lionet could tell it wasn’t the fresh meat that she liked just by smelling it.
“Don’t be so fussy! I will prepare fresh meat for you next time.” Zhang Zian said, “Uncle Li is very busy these days, and I need to inform him to prepare fresh meat in advance.”
“I don’t care! I only eat fresh meat!” Snowy Lionet lost its temper.
“Well, we’ve only got barbecue today. Don’t starve yourself. You know what? Fina also eats barbecue.” Zhang Zian put Fina’s food bowl onto the highest rack of the cat tree. Fina started to devour the meat immediately.
A layer of tin foil paper was paved at the bottom and the interiors of the foam insulation box, so that the heat could be preserved better, and the meat was not directly exposed to the foam. When being taken out from the box, the meat was still warm but not burning hot, which was the best time to enjoy.
Snowy Lionet looked up and it could tell that Fina was enjoying the barbecue very much because its tail was lashing jubilantly.
“Well then… I will also eat chicken, because I am the loyal servant of Queen Fina!” After hesitating for a long time, Snowy Lionet finally made its determination.
Zhang Zian put its food bowl to its platform on the cat tree, “Enjoy.”
Snowy Lionet sniffed the meat and frowned. Perhaps out of starvation or out of its admiration to Fina, it began to nibble at the meat in small portions.
Zhang Zian turned around and saw the dumbfounded Little Celery.
He touched his face and looked down at his clothes, but still did not understand why she was so surprised.
“Wow! Brother store manager, were you talking to your pets?” She was standing next to the showcases where the little hamster and Lop-Ear rabbit were residing. Her big eyes were sparkling, as if she had seen something novel and intriguing.
